Danger Zone - Top Gun: Maverick

8. Eject

"They're not a team. No way Bradshaw would go that low."

"This actually is not about you." Bradley smiles before heading to his seat.

Nova smiles at him, but is quickly elbowed by Maverick.

"What?" She snaps her head at him.

"You better not be dating him, Nov. I'm serious, Bradshaw is off limits." Maverick tells his daughter.

"I don't know why you try and tell me what to do. I think we both know I'm not gonna listen to you." She says to her father, knowing if anyone else spoke to him like that they'd be in for it.

"Oh lord." He sighs in defeat.

He knows he can't win with her. She'll always do what she wants to do, even if it's a terrible idea. Maverick doesn't argue with it cause he knows she gets it from him. She gets mostly everything from him, especially her quick comebacks. Sometimes she wished she was a little less like him, they both did, but Nova was a Mitchell through and through.

"Attention on deck!" Admiral Simpson enters the room.

Nova and Maverick walk to the front of the small classroom where the two admirals stand, and Mav prepares to explain the mission.

"The uranium enrichment plant will be operational earlier than expected. Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in ten days time. As a result, your mission has been moved up one week, in order to avoid contaminating the target valley with radiation." Warlock announces.

The classroom of pilots stares at the admiral in shock. Nova looks more afraid than shocked. She doesn't know why they hadn't been told this yesterday, or at least why her dad didn't warn her when she first got here. They've seen so many setbacks over the past few days that they're starting to lose hope of surviving this mission at all.

"Sir, no one here has successfully completed the low level course." Nova says with concern.

"Nevertheless, we've been ordered to move on."

"We have one week left to focus on phase two. It's the most difficult stage of the mission." Maverick continues the briefing that Warlock started.

All eyes are on him, and everyone is listening closely on what he has to say. Their lives do depend on it after all.

"It's a pop up strike with a steep dive, requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles. Two pairs of F-18s will fly in a welded wing formation. Precise coordination of these aircraft is essential to both the mission's success and your survival."

The group of aviators stare at the big screen, giving Maverick their full attention. Rooster swallows nervously and looks at Nova, who's just as anxious.

"Your target is an impact point less than three meters wide. Two two-seater aircraft will paint the target with a laser. The first pair will breech the reactor by dropping a laser-guided bomb on an exposed ventilation hatch. This will create an opening for the second pair. That's miracle number one."

"The second team will deliver the kill shot and destroy the target. That's miracle number two. If either team misses the target, the mission fails. Egress is a steep high-G climb out to avoid hitting this mountain-"

"A steep climb at that speed, you're pulling at least eight G's." Hangman comments, slightly taken aback by the danger of this mission.

"Nine, minimum." Nova corrects.

"The stress limit on the F-18's airframe is 7.5." Rooster reminds everyone, wondering what these crazy ass people are thinking, and if the Navy truly is sending them on a death mission.